sometimes hate is the right response
I briefly mentioned the pet sitter in the year-end meme, and I figure I should get the story in here so it stops hanging around my tiny brain. I used the same person for almost 15 years--ever since I got Tupper dog, who was too much of a handful to ask a friend to handle. The pet sitter, BW, was always bossy, telling me how to train and walk Tupper and what cleaning products to buy, but I didn't mind because she seemed well intentioned, and I trusted her to show up as scheduled and to look after the animals.
Mosey is a pandemic dog--we got her in August 2020, and she's way more neurotic than Tupper ever was. Tupper bit first and asked questions later. She never really got comfortable with anyone but me, though eventually she did trust Brent and she tolerated BW. We've had Mosey more than four years, she takes three different behavior medicines (anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, and sedative) and sees a special behavioral vet, and she still acts as if I'm the only safe human on Earth. When I go to the office (once a week), she seems to be catatonic, barely moving or reacting to anything, including treats.
BW knew all of this because she's checked on Mosey when we've been gone. Mosey's had lots of medicines for the last year or so, always prescribed by a vet. Last February, when we were in Lancaster, BW's partner checked on Mosey. Mosey refused her medications (even when they were wrapped in cheese and hot dogs and left in her food bowl) and escaped the yard. So, when I asked BW if she could check on Mosey while we were in Richmond in September, I said that I wanted her to check on Mo, not her partner, because he seemed to have more trouble with Mosey. She assured me that she'd be available that weekend, so I did the usual prep, including prepackaging all of Mosey's meds for the weekend, one container for each visit. A lot of pills, but the same amount as when we were gone in February.
I didn't hear from BW while we were gone, so I assumed everything was fine and texted her when we were on the way home (as usual). Mo was in the house, not running the neighborhood, and everything seemed OK. Then we read the note that BW left for us. First, she said that Mosey was being given an inhumane number of medications, and any vet prescribing that many meds wasn't a real vet. She decided not to give Mosey any of them. She also said that Mosey is a broken dog who doesn't know how to behave normally and should be euthanized.
Imagine being a licensed, insured pet sitter for a client for over a decade and leaving that note. She could've just declined the job, say she was already booked or cutting back on work or whatever. She could've called or messaged me so that I could make a decision about whether to come back early. Instead, she just decided on her own, suddenly, to not give medication a vet had prescribed. I guess I should be grateful she still made sure Mo had food and water.
Needless to say, I was (and in some ways, still am) pissed. I actually agree that Mosey is broken in a lot of ways, but I don't think that she deserves to be euthanized. She needs time and drugs and, unfortunately for us, an infinite amount of patience. Here she is in what we call baby mode, which she has to do at least twice a day:
